


waiting for the night fall (for my heart to light up)

by middnighter



Category: Green Lantern (Comics), Green Lantern Corps (Comics)
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Star Sapphire Guy Gardner, Star Sapphire Kyle Rayner, Star Trek References, Trans Guy Gardner, Trans Kyle Rayner, Undercover as Star Sapphires, Undercover as a Couple, guy is oblivious and kyle is pining silently
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-29
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-05-30 12:11:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15096440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/middnighter/pseuds/middnighter
Summary: Guy was going to die of boredom, and the only available mission requires him to pretend to be married to Kyle.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this is a gift for @donnaskory over on tumblr, thank you for getting me a coffee!

Guy was going to die of boredom.

Like, he just spent fifteen minutes trying to get a penny out of under the counter with a knife without even thinking about using his ring, because he hadn’t used it in _weeks_.

When he accepted his promotion as a Senior Lantern, he expected more action, more things to do, more people to punch. Instead, he spent most of his days bored out of his goddamn mind, having more responsibilities as a bartender at Warriors rather than as an Green Lantern officer.

Sure, he was in charge of training the new recruits, but there hasn’t been any new recruit in months now and they were all off to their respective sectors. There hasn’t been any world-threatening menace, no alien invasion, no special mission that required his expertise, and this promotion was starting to feel like retirement.

Guy knew it was wrong to wish for an interplanetary conflict, but he really wanted to get back on the field, and if that was what it would take then so be it.

He sighed and grabbed a towel to wipe the counter. The bar would open soon, and with that his day would start, as uneventful as the previous one and the one before that.

The door opened, and Guy didn’t have to look to know that it was Kyle who came in. He didn’t have to look to know that Kyle was going to turn on the coffee machine, take his coffee with cream and no sugar, then sit at a stool and look through his sketchbook to select the drawings he would turn into paintings later. And Kyle did just that, just like the previous day and the day before that.

Guy realized then that he had let himself fall into a routine, and he didn’t know what to make of that.

He stood up and grabbed Kyle by the elbow.

“What?” Kyle said, meeting his eyes with a confused —and still half-asleep— look.

“Aren’t you bored of doing nothin’ all day?”

“What are you talking about?”

“C’mon,” Guy said, ignoring the furrow of Kyle’s brows, “we didn’t sign up to be full-time bartenders. We’re gonna get the Guardians to give us a mission, a real one. Time for some action!”

And he ran outside, dragging Kyle behind him to the place where the Guardians spent their days.

“All right, you blue bastards!” Guy said. One of the Guardians raised an eyebrow. “You all know me and Kyle are some of your best Lanterns out there, and I’m not liking being benched. There _has_ to be a mission you can assign us on.”

The Guardians looked at each other. “Times have been peaceful lately, we are in no need of extra work from the Senior Lantern Officers.”

“Extra work? You haven’t been giving us _any_ work at all!”

“On the contrary, your work as a mentor and role model to the new generations of Lanterns has been exemplary and is very valuable.”

“You know I haven’t taught anyone in weeks,” Guy groaned. “They’re all off on duty, and I don’t understand why I can’t be back on the field too. I’ll take any mission, as long as I get to punch something.”

“Well,” one of the Guardians said, “we do have a mission available, but we cannot give it to you.”

Guy exchanged a look of disbelief with Kyle. “Why not?” Kyle said, crossing his arms. “What’s so special about it?”

“Yeah,” Guy said, “what’s about this mission that we can’t handle?”

“This assignment requires a married couple.”

A married couple?

“It is an undercover mission with the Star Sapphires,” another Guardian continued. “We still do not fully trust them and we need people on the inside to tell us if they are as clean as they claim to be. And since love can be volatile and unpredictable, we need to send Lanterns who have a supply of pure and unconditional love available as a power source, to give them the necessary strength to resist being turned or resorting to more unstable, weak or toxic kind of loves, in case the Star Sapphires are lying and still using their old ways. We deem the love a married couple share powerful enough to overthrow any kind of twisted love the Star Sapphires might be attempting to use.”

Guy glanced at Kyle, who was staring dead ahead at the Guardians, an unreadable expression on his face. Guy did say he would take anything, and if that was the only mission available he was going to get on it.

“I don’t see where the problem is,” Guy said, stepping closer to Kyle and wrapping his arm around his waist. Kyle tensed up under his hand. “Kyle and I have been dating for quite a while, and we’ve been thinking about getting married for the past few months. The date is actually set in, uh, in a couple of weeks.”

Kyle’s eyes snapped to Guy’s own, and Guy silently pleaded to him to _please go along, I’ll make it up to you later_.

“Right, baby?” Guy said, putting his head on Kyle’s shoulder.

“Yeah,” Kyle breathed out. “Yeah,” he said louder. “Sorry we haven’t told you, we didn’t know how open we were allowed to be about it, with the restrictions there used to be about this kind of thing.”

“Oh,” one of the Guardians said. “Well, in that case, you’re more than qualified to handle this assignment. The mission briefing will be sent to your rings later today. The undercover operation will, of course, start after you get properly bonded according to your culture’s customs. Dismissed.”

“Congratulations about the wedding,” another Guardian said with what seemed to be a smile.

“Thanks,” Guy said. “We’re very happy together.”

Kyle turned around and started flying away. Guy went right after him, flying a little closer to him than he was used to until they were out of the Guardians’ sight.

“Thanks, dude”, Guy said. “I’m as sorry about this as you are, but if that’s what it takes to get back on the field, I can manage it.”

Kyle nodded and looked away.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm aiming for short-ish chapters on this fic so the updates don't get so spread out.

Hal learned about the wedding before they could tell him it was fake.

“I’m so happy for you guys!” Hal said, making confetti appear around them. “So you finally pulled your heads out of your asses and figured it out! I thought it was gonna take you way longer. I can’t _believe_ you didn’t tell me you were dating!”

And he kept on uttering Hal-typical nonsense such as “You can go one double dates with me and Barry now” and “Kyle, why didn’t you told me you made a move? Why am I only learning about all of this now?” and “One of you better ask me to be best man.” Guy tuned him out.

John stepped forward and put his hand on Guy’s shoulder, pulling him away from Hal who started making fireworks and flowers, still talking animatedly at Kyle.

“So,” John said once they were far enough that the chatter was dulled by the distance, crossing his arms, “you’re gonna tell me what’s really going on here?”

“... I’m gonna marry Kyle?”

John raised his eyebrows at him.

“Fine! Fine. We’re not actually together. It’s for a mission with the Star Sapphires. Except for the Guardians, no one was supposed to know.”

“Well, Hal knows, which means the entire Corps knows, so that's not gonna work out.”

Guy was suddenly overtaken by the urge to punch Hal in the face. As fake as his and Kyle's relationship was, it still felt wrong that everyone they worked with learned about it through _Hal_. “Yeah, I figured.”

“Hal or no Hal, this is still one of the stupidest plans I’ve ever heard.”

“Well,” Guy started, and started looking for a defense for his plan. He didn't find any that didn't revolve around _I was very bored and it seemed like a decent idea at the time_. “It's not _that_ stupid,” was what he settled on. “Kyle and I are good actors, we can pull this off. It's gonna go great!”

John did not look convinced whatsoever. “You don't have any idea what you're doing, do you?”

“What's that supposed to mean?” Guy protested, even though John was right. It might be a stupid plan but it was _his_ stupid plan and he was sticking with it.

John sighed. “What does Kyle think about all of this?”

Guy looked over at Kyle and Hal, who were still talking, albeit more quietly. From where he stood, he could only see Hal's face and the back of Kyle’s head. Hal looked… Hal looked genuinely happy for them, patting Kyle on the shoulder with a bright smile.

Guy pinched his lips together and decided that Hal wasn't going to know the truth about him and Kyle just yet, since he couldn't be trusted to keep his mouth shut. He would inevitably blabber to someone about it and within two days the Guardians would know it was all a scam and take them off the mission. And Guy _really_ didn't want to be back to bartending for a living.

Then it occurred to him that he didn't know what Kyle thought about all of this, as John asked. He didn't exactly have the time to ask, back when they were in front of the little blue men. But if Kyle had a problem with it, he would have said something, right? He wouldn't have played along with the ‘happy couple’ show they gave to the Guardians.

“He's cool with it,” Guy eventually said. “I think.”

“You think?”

Guy had no idea where John was going with this. “Yeah, he hasn't complained or anything. And it's not like being married would be so different than what we already are. We already spend all of our time together. And you know what they say, ‘marry your best friend!’”

Guy was only half-joking. If he were to marry someone, out of all the people he knew, it would be Kyle. Kyle knew him better than anyone, and they worked really well as partners —both as Lanterns and bartenders. It wouldn't be that much of a reach to assume that they would be great partners in other areas of their lives too. And in a weird way, marrying your best friend really did sound nice, now that he was thinking about it. Kind of like being roommates forever with the person you got along best in the world.

Guy realized he was probably more tired than he thought he was, if he was seriously thinking about this whole marriage thing. It wasn't gonna last, it was just for the mission. They’d get a divorce once this was all over. And it wasn't like they were actually in love anyway.

John looked at Guy like he was seeing something Guy wasn't.

“What?” Guy said, a little on the defensive.

“Nothing,” John said. “Just, be careful. Good luck putting up the act.”

“I’m not really worried.”

“Yeah, that's what worries me. If the Star Sapphires figure out you lied about the love you feel, they're not gonna let you last very long. That has to be like blasphemy to them.”

“The Guardians bought us as a couple, and Hal did too.” And what was up with that, by the way? Hal sounded like he _actually_ had expected for them to end up in a relationship. Guy knew that when him and Kyle moved to Oa together, people started talking, but he had not thought for one second that Hal, who _knew_ them both, would be among them. “Pretty good track record so far.”

“The Guardians aren't exactly experts on all things love-related. The Star Sapphires very much are.”

‘We'll be careful, don't worry about it.”

Guy really did not see any reason to worry. As long as Kyle was by his side, having his back, nothing bad could happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let me know what you think!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i would like to remind everyone that guy is canonically a trekkie

Back on Earth for the week, Guy and Kyle were spending the afternoon in the old Warriors bar —that had been reopened by Booster Gold—, waiting to get their marriage license approved.

Kyle was drawing with a pen on a notepad, his back laying against the wall and his legs up on the bench he was sitting on, knees drawn up as a makeshift support.

“There's a perfectly functioning table right here,” Guy observed from the other end of the booth, a laptop open in front of him.

“I know,” Kyle said, and didn’t move.

A smile tugged at the corners of Guy's lips, and he turned his gaze back to the computer screen. He was browsing for wedding venues that would agree to marry them on such short notice. Thankfully, places like Las Vegas offered a lot of options, and Guy just found the perfect one.

“Hey, Kyle?” he said, trying to repress a grin.

“Hm?” Kyle said, still focused on his drawing.

“How do you feel about a Star Trek-themed wedding?”

Kyle looked up from his notepad and stared at Guy for a second. Guy stared back and raised his eyebrows expectantly, unable to contain his smile. Even if Kyle was far from being as much of a fan of the show as Guy was, Kyle barely complained when Guy made him watch all of The Original Series with him for the fourth time.

“It doesn't matter what I answer to that,” Kyle said, an amused expression on his face. “You've already booked it.”

Guy tilted his head in acknowledgement. “Yeah, I did.”

“As long as you don't start complaining about kinks in your back, I’m good,” Kyle said, teasing.

“I don't know,” Guy said, “My back has been hurting lately.” Oh, this one was offered on a silver platter. “I might need you to dig it in there, Mister Gardner.”

“We're not hyphenating?”

“No, we're swapping last names. Kyle Gardner and Guy Rayner.” Guy paused for a moment, repeating the names to himself a few times. “Kind of has a ring to it.”

Kyle’s amused smile turned soft, and Guy grinned in response.

* * *

 The wedding was to be officiated by Captain James T. Quirk, ordained minister. Given how much they charged, they should be able to afford the actual name and not only the off-brand version, Guy complained.

The place was everything you would expect from an intergalactic-themed Las Vegas wedding chapel. It was decorated to look like the inside of a generic spaceship, complete with flashing lights and beeping sounds that the website advertised —somewhat falsely given how cheap they looked— as “theatrical lighting and sound equipment”. The bridge of the starship was populated by life-size cardboard cut-outs of the crew of the _USS Enterprise_ and a very bored-looking photographer.

Guy and Kyle stood together in the middle of the room, both dressed in the uniforms worn by the characters of the show —black pants and commandeer gold sweaters— with matching flower boutonnieres where the Starfleet insignia should be. Hal and John were both sitting on poorly-disguised plastic chairs, watching them with amusement.

“I can't believe this is really happening,” Guy whispered excitedly.

“Neither can I,” Kyle replied.

The music from the opening credits of the show started to play and they stopped talking. In the middle of the fog light up by laser beams that filled the front of the room, Captain Quirk appeared. He spinned around to face them in what was supposed to be a solemn pose, but that the cheap blonde wig only made goofy.

Captain Quirk hit a button on the remote control he was holding, making the fog machine stop. He held it to his mouth like it was a recorder. “Stardate: your wedding day,” he said, dramatically pointing at Guy and Kyle with his free hand. “Welcome aboard the Starship Chapel Viva Las Vegas.”

Guy bit his lower lip, trying his best not to erupt into laughter.

Captain Quirk tossed the remote control away. “Marriage,” he continued, “the final frontier. This is the voyage of Kyle Rayner and Guy Gardner. Their mission, until death do them part, to boldly go where no spouse has gone before! You may now say your vows.”

“Parted from me and never parted,” Guy said, reciting the words married Vulcans said to each other. “Never and always touching and touched. Kyle Rayner, I take you to be my husband.”

Guy expected to stutter or laugh or something, given the absurdity of the situation, but the words flew naturally, like he had been preparing for this moment his entire life.

Kyle’s eyes were locked into his, and for a second Guy though that Kyle was going to call the whole thing off. This whole fake wedding thing suddenly felt very real, and Guy would understand if Kyle didn't want to follow through.

Kyle breathed in and closed his eyes for a moment. “Parted from me and never parted,” he repeated, opening his eyes and meeting Guy's encouraging look. “Never and always touching and touched. I, Kyle Rayner, take you, Guy Gardner, as my husband.”

“I declare you married. You may now kiss each other!” Captain Quirk said, picking up the remote and setting the fog machine back on.

Guy held up two fingers that Kyle stroke with his own in a Vulcan kiss. It felt a little weird to conclude a wedding without an actual, human kiss, but Guy figured that it was only fair that their fake wedding also had fake kisses. And actually kissing Kyle would probably have felt even weirder, like stealing something that wasn't his to take and never would be.

The flash of the photographer’s camera went off behind them. Hal stood up and cheered, and John followed shortly after.

“You will now leave as one, on the beat of the music your most trusted friends picked for you,” Captain Quirk said, hitting a few buttons on the remote control.

Arms locked together, Guy and Kyle walked out of the chapel, accompanied by Britney Spears’ Toxic and a snickering Hal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i would say that i'm sorry about all the star trek references but that would be a lie  
> the star sapphire stuff starts next chapter  
> let me know what you think!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i went through hell to update this tonight guys
> 
> thanks to zero for the beta!! all the remaining mistakes and clunky sentences are mine

The two pink rings swirled around each other, trying to escape of the little transparent box they were trapped in.

“We captured these around sector 2134,” John said, holding out the box for Guy and Kyle to take. “You're going to take them to a deserted sector of space and then set them free, so they will choose you. Hopefully.”

“Hopefully,” Kyle repeated, grabbing the box with a construct.

“We don't really know how they work, that’s why you're going there to investigate,” John said. “Make sure you feel love when you open it. Once the Star Sapphire rings have chosen you, put your Green Lantern rings in the box and they will be brought back here for safekeeping. You will get them —and your rank in the Corps— back as soon as you are done with the mission.”

John took in a breath, his shoulders slumping down slightly. When he opened his mouth, his voice shifted from that of the Corps leader to that of a concerned friend.

“You're not going to have any way of contacting us, not unless something goes so wrong that you have to blow your cover. You're going to be in there without a safety net. You’ll only have each other to rely on, so, please be careful out there.”

“Sure thing, Johnny,” Guy said as Kyle nodded. They made a pretty good team, and Guy wasn’t worried. If anything, he was impatient to see some action again.

“Good luck,” John said.

Kyle constructed a spaceship around them and they took off before Guy could complain about how they wouldn't need luck, because they were just really that good.

“So,” Kyle started after a few moments of flying through space, his voice steady. “How are we gonna handle the whole love-as-a-power thing? Since we're not in love.” He looked straight ahead, rather than meeting Guy’s eyes.

Guy didn't really know what to answer to that.

“Well, yeah,” he said after a pause, “but I still love you. You're my best friend.” Romantic love wasn't the only kind of love that existed. Besides, his attachment to Kyle ran deeper than simple friendship. People like them, they got to choose their families, and Kyle was the closest thing to family Guy had. “That's gotta be the closest we can get to the unconditional source of love the Guardians wanted.”

It was a weird thing to discussing out loud. It wasn't that Guy was emotionally closed off to the point where this kind of admission would actually hurt, but baring his heart this openly wasn't the most comfortable thing to do. He hoped that his explanation was enough and that Kyle would drop the matter soon.

Kyle was probably feeling as uncomfortable as he did, since he didn't comment any further. “Right,” he said with a nod.

Once they reached an empty enough area of the space sector they were in, Guy removed his Green Lantern ring and set it aside, in the box John provided them with. His green uniform dissolved and his jeans and his T-shirt appeared underneath. “Ready?” he asked Kyle.

Kyle steadied the spaceship and put up a construct bubble around himself, so the ring they’d first release would go straight to Guy. The bubble was made of a very clear, transparent green, that would allow Kyle to be able to see what would happen and intervene if necessary. “Ready,” he said.

Guy opened the box just enough to let one ring escape and closed it to keep the other one safe. The ring shot up and flew in circles above their heads, trying to leave the spaceship but unable to go through Kyle's strong constructs.

Guy focused on his love, and found it much harder than focusing on his will. _I love teaching, I love the Corps, I love my friends, I love—_

The ring hovered in front of him. “ _Guy Rayner of Earth,_ ” a voice resonated around them. " _You have great love in your heart. Welcome to the Star Sapphires."_

It was a little weird to hear his first name followed by Kyle's last name — _his_ last name, for the time being. He had worked so hard to get his name and his identity recognized. Not being ‘Guy Gardner’ anymore, even only for the time of the mission —and his marriage with Kyle—, was unsettling. It didn't fit him quite yet, like a brand new pair of shoes that still needed breaking in.

Guy held out his hand and the ring dropped in his palm. He felt a tingle of excitement as he slipped the ring on his finger. He felt his civilian clothes disappear as the Star Sapphire ring materialized a uniform.

He expected a pink version of his Green Lantern costume, but the ring seemed to have other plans.

It provided provided him with a pair of black leggings, and that was just about the only article of clothing on his body, save for black boots that went all the way up to his knee. He felt his skin get a little warmer where black, pink and white tattoos settled on his face, his chest, his shoulders and his back.

Guy stared at his reflection in one of Kyle's shiny constructs, and it only took him a second to realize what was going on. Save for the color change, the ring had given him his Warrior costume.

“Oh, no,” he said. “No no no no. I don't do that anymore. Give me back my jacket.”

He was baffled to feel some resistance from the ring. “C’mon, you stupid thing!”

The tattoos dissolved and a pink version of his jacket appeared. However, neither his turtleneck nor his sleeves made it. His arms were bare and the jacket opened low, revealing a great deal of his chest. At least his nipples weren't visible anymore, which was a major improvement.

The ring, which seemed to have a ‘the more skin showing the better’ agenda, converted his pants into black pantyhose, complete with a pink thong that left nothing to the imagination.

“Oh, come _on!_ ” Guy complained, and the ring turned the thong into black mini shorts, loose enough to allow him to kick his legs without being scared of ripping them apart.

After a minute of mental struggle, he managed to get the ring to get rid of the high-heeled boots and it settled for pink, flat platform boots instead. His white gloves were back too, although in a much more delicate, skin-tight version, the ring glowing a bright pink over the glove on his right hand.

The outfit was completed by the Star Sapphire symbol tattooed on his left shoulder.

When he turned his attention away from his new uniform, he saw Kyle staring at him from his construct bubble, his mouth slightly agape.

“I know, I look ridiculous,” Guy said, crossing his arms. “Get down here.”

“You don't—”

Guy huffed. “If you make fun of me, I will send Batman our wedding pictures.”

Kyle closed his mouth and dissolved the construct bubble, stepping down. “You're taking care of the ship?” he said.

“Sure,” Guy said, and focused. Using the Star Sapphire ring was different that the Green Lantern one —less logical, more impulsive— and after a few tries, Guy managed to construct another spaceship around them so Kyle could remove his ring safely.

Kyle put his Green Lantern ring in the same box as Guy’s, pressing a few buttons on it to send them back to John. Guy set free the remaining Star Sapphire ring, which went right to Kyle.

“ _Kyle Gardner of Earth, you have great love in your heart. Welcome to the Star Sapphires_.”

The ring slipped on Kyle's finger, and his clothes blinked out of existence as his new uniform appeared.

Kyle was wearing a pink version of his Green Lantern mask, but that was where the resemblance stopped.

Heeled, thigh-high black boots. High-rise shorts that went all the way up to his waist, accentuating the curve of his hips, and cut so short they would border on indecent if Kyle’s thighs weren't covered by thin pink tights.

Above the waist of the shorts, a few inches of bare skin, and the rest of his torso was covered in a body paint-like material, like a crop top that was painted directly on his body. It was pink around the shoulders and black around the waist, the separation between the two colors asymmetrical, going from Kyle's right shoulder to the left of his waist. White gloves were painted up to his elbows, the white pigment gradually fading into his darker skin tone. On the left of his chest, the Star Sapphire symbol was painted in white, contrasting nicely with the pink underneath.

It looked like if Guy touched Kyle's chest, he would feel Kyle's skin underneath, as if he was naked. Like the paint would smudge and come off like make-up. Guy inexplicably wanted to touch him, just to see his fingertips turn pink.

Kyle spun around a few times, staring at his reflection like Guy had had moments before. “Different than my usual, but I like it,” he said, sounding satisfied.

Kyle was… Kyle was a very beautiful man. Guy knew that. This outfit, which would have looked absolutely ridiculous on anyone else, managed to enhance the soft curves of his body, his lean frame, his delicately chiseled muscles… It highlighted the best of his physique in a way that his usual Green Lantern suit and his civilian clothes didn't.

And Guy was most definitely stunned. It was one thing to know that Kyle was attractive. It was another to have it slap you across the face like this.

Kyle caught him staring and quirked an eyebrow. “What?” he said with a little smile that dared Guy to laugh, propping a hand on his waist and rubbing the tip of his fingers at the exposed skin there.

“Nothing, I just…” Guy’s lips felt dry. “You look really good. Like, you’re probably sorry we're married. Looking like that, you could pick up anyone you want, but you're stuck with me instead.”

“Honey, you know you're the only one I see,” Kyle said in a teasing voice, mock-flirting. “Besides, you're not looking so bad yourself.”

“Thanks, baby,” Guy replied on the same sarcastic tone.

Kyle blew him a kiss. Guy grinned and rolled his eyes.

Guy noticed then that with his brand new high heels, Kyle was taller than him by a few inches. And Guy could handle things like faking a marriage, being undercover as an ambassador of love, lying to the Guardians and all the Corps —save for John— about it, but Kyle being taller than him? That was just wrong.

He silently asked the ring to increase the height of his platforms until he was the taller one again. Much better.

Kyle noticed the change —due to Guy's inability to hide his snickering expression— and smirked at him. “Two can play this game,” he warned, turning his boots into impossibly high platform heels. He was now towering Guy again, arms crossed and eyebrows raised, daring Guy to do better.

“You win, alright,” Guy said, ignoring the twist inside his chest. There was _no way_ he was putting on stilettos, even to rise up a challenge. His dysphoria wouldn't allow him. He kind of admired Kyle for being able to do it.

“I win!” Kyle said triumphantly, pumping his fist in the air.

He took a few steps in Guy's direction, probably to make a show of how much taller he was, but his ankle twisted and he fell forward. Guy caught him by the shoulders, stopping his fall. In the process, he lost his focus and the spaceship vanished around them. Finding empty space under him, Guy tumbled backwards, dragging Kyle with him without meaning to.

Guy absent-mindedly noticed that the paint covering them didn't come off, and he found himself weirdly disappointed.

Now floating through space, the momentum made them turn around together a few times, until Kyle used his powers to stop their endless fall and stand still, leaning into Guy for balance and grabbing his arms to steady them both.

Guy's eyes locked with Kyle's white lenses. They stared at each other for a second before erupting into laughter.

“I haven't worn shoes like these in _ages_ ,” Kyle said, his breath still short, “not since I came out. I forgot how fun they are.”

“And how to walk with them, apparently,” Guy teased.

Kyle's hands were warm against Guy's skin. He expected Kyle to pull away any time now, maybe laugh a little more and negotiate the height of their shoes. But Kyle didn't. Instead he stayed close and lingered, almost into Guy's arms, and Guy could swear he was reading an intensity and an eagerness behind the mask that he wasn't used to seeing there.

“Guy,” Kyle started, “I—”

 _“Please report to Zamaron at once to start your training,”_ the voice coming from one of their rings —Guy couldn't tell which— said. _“The ring will show you the way.”_

Kyle backed off and put his hands behind his back. “We should get going,” he said.

 _What was that,_ Guy wanted to ask. “Yeah, let's go,” he said instead.

The rings pulsed a bright shade of pink, drawing them both to the home planet of the Star Sapphires.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have drawn the designs for their star sapphire suits, i'll post them if that interests someone
> 
> let me know what you think of this!


End file.
